Gigiola

What she is?

Ummm ... mongrel !! Nearest definition would be a miniature border collie. Highly intelligent, highly affectionate and has some sort of springs in her legs that enable her to jump like nothing I've ever seen before! She also pinches tennis balls ... doesn't care if they are in play or not !!

I have people/family who would take her, but they would do it for me, not because they really love her. And there's a lot of life left in that 5 yr old body !!

Many thanks again, Jill

Maggs

Hi again Jill & Daisy

DEFRA have a great website with info on the Pet Passport Sdheme for Europe and US/Canada/rest of the world. The also give a help line phone number for general enquiries 011 44 - 870 241 1710. They have an e mail address too. In addition I called my regional DEFRA office (Leicester I think) on 011 44 - 116 278 7451 and spoke to the Small Animal Import/Export Dept who were very knowlegable and helpful.

Hope this helps also.

Daisy sounds great, too precious to leave behind.

Maggie

Gigiola

Thanks again Maggie .. from Daisy too ... her file is increasing at a higher rate of knots than ours!

We've already been through the "love me, love my dog" bit and she decided that his feet were warmer to sleep on!

Bed time here in the old country. Night to everyone and many thanks. Jill

Squire

In article <[email protected]>, Gigiola
<member@british_expats.com> writes
    >We've already been through the "love me, love my dog" bit and she
    >decided that his feet were warmer to sleep on!
    >Bed time here in the old country. Night to everyone and many
    >thanks. Jill

In view of this surge in activity of pets immigrating to USA, BCIS are
rumoured to be introducing a new pets Visa - a K9


--
squire
Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. (Groucho)

Gigiola

Laughing ... and thinking about a recent conversation with my man, who was telling me that his father's ancesters arrived sometime at the end of the 17th century .. then added ...

Of course they would have got here earlier but got held up with their K3 visa !!

supernav

I've sent my cats back and forth between the coasts many times during the past few years, and never had a problem. And this was with various airlines. Most treated my cats with better care and respect than humans!

-= nav =-

Cdn Chick

I brought my dog down here with me from Canada (along with 2 cats!) ... the
only requirement was that she had all her shots - rabies being the most
important - and that I took her to a vet 10 days before she left - the vet
filled out the health certificates. The airlines filled in all the
appropriate paperwork - and as was said in a post below - the animals
received better treatment than most of us humans do!! The only problem
that we ran in to was that the animals had to clear customs in Houston (!)
.. and US customs was closed by the time the plane landed. We had to hire a
customs broker to pre-clear my animals!!



"Maggs" <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Originally posted by Gigiola
    > > What she is?
    > >
    > > Ummm ... mongrel !! Nearest definition would be a miniature border
    > > collie. Highly intelligent, highly affectionate and has some sort of
    > > springs in her legs that enable her to jump like nothing I've ever
    > > seen before! She also pinches tennis balls ... doesn't care if they
    > > are in play or not !!
    > >
    > > I have people/family who would take her, but they would do it for me,
    > > not because they really love her. And there's a lot of life left in
    > > that 5 yr old body !!
    > >
    > > Many thanks again, Jill
    > Hi again Jill & Daisy
    > DEFRA have a great website with info on the Pet Passport Sdheme for
    > Europe and US/Canada/rest of the world. The also give a help line phone
    > number for general enquiries 011 44 - 870 241 1710. They have an e mail
    > address too. In addition I called my regional DEFRA office (Leicester I
    > think) on 011 44 - 116 278 7451 and spoke to the Small Animal
    > Import/Export Dept who were very knowlegable and helpful.
    > Hope this helps also.
    > Daisy sounds great, too precious to leave behind.
    > Maggie
    > --
    > Maggs
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Michael

Gigiola <member@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > I just heard of a company that allows dogs in the cabin ... from Europe
    > to South Africa!!!
    >

I immigrated a dog on a K1 fiance visa. It was one of those mail
order brides. Woof. Sent her back after the 90 day trial period.
Hope she had her shots.

katina

This article just appeared in the Wall Street Journal today so I figured I'd post it here. It looks like Continental is the airline to go with! Pets can even get frequent flyer miles.

Carrier Caters to Critters

McCartney, Scott
Wall Street Journal, The
October 29, 2003 1:20 a.m. EST

Animal Cargo Is a Pet Peeve
At Most Other Airlines,
But Profitable at Continental

By SCOTT MCCARTNEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


HOUSTON -- Dale Bramwell raced around the tarmac on a recent hot day at Continental Airlines's hub here, frantically trying to make sure that customers made their connections to outbound flights. As he toted travelers in his van, he offered them water and turned the air conditioning up high.

Some passengers panted, but none complained. "The good thing is they can't talk back," Mr. Bramwell said. "They can bark, but they can't talk back."

Some meow, and some hiss, too. While other airlines have pulled out of the treacherous business of shipping pets and zoo animals, Continental's "QuickPak" program positively caters to critters. Some animal shippers -- companies that ship animals for pets, zoos or individuals -- say they give 90% of their business to Continental. The airline now ships more than 50,000 animals a year in its cargo bays.

Four-legged passengers often pay higher fares than two-legged customers do. "Foot-Foot" the cat, traveling from Dallas to Boston on Oct. 2, weighed 10 pounds but paid $169 for a one-way ticket -- a far better yield, or average fare per mile, than Continental will get from many passengers on the same flight.

As a result, the operation has become the most exotic of airline beasts: a profitable business. Last year, when Continental suffered a net loss of $451 million, the pet business brought in $8 million in revenue and turned an operating profit.

"Other airlines are shying away, and our business is growing," says Lisa Schoppa, the dog-loving manager of product development and specialty sales for Continental's cargo division.

The airline's strategy: treat pets as express-package shipments, which get special handling and tracking, including climate-controlled conditions to keep them healthy. Continental also takes reservations months in advance, operates a "pet desk" for reservations and information and assigns one person to track animals all day long. Animal cages ride in baggage compartments that are pressurized and heated, and baggage handlers are trained to load the animals last and unload them first.

Pets even earn frequent-flier miles on Continental for their owners at a rate of one mile for every dollar spent.

Airlines have long allowed passengers to travel with their four-footed companions. Small dogs, cats and birds can ride caged in passenger cabins of airplanes, subject to certain rules, and air carriers have to allow aboard such animals as seeing-eye dogs. But when animals have to travel below in the belly of airplanes because of their size or type, many things can go wrong.

In recent years, some animals died after being left on super-hot tarmacs. A few escaped from cages and were lost or killed. And like other baggage, family pets sometimes ended up misrouted to distant cities, separated from owner-passengers.

In 2000, irate owners who lost dogs to airline mishandling pushed Congress to pass the "Safe Air Travel for Animals Act," which mandated improved training in animal care and safe-transport techniques for baggage handlers. It also required the Department of Transportation to start tracking complaints about animal deaths, injuries or losses. That began in October 2000 and since then, only nine complaints have been filed against U.S. airlines over transporting animals.

Airlines in general haven't been eager to ship pets, and some carriers cut back further after the new legislation. Southwest Airlines Co. and America West Holdings Corp.'s America West Airlines refuse to accept pet shipments, though passengers can still bring small animals onboard the cabin if their crates are small enough. Other airlines refuse to transport pets in summer months, or any day when temperatures at airports along the way are expected to be above 85 degrees.

Most airlines will take pets only as checked baggage, subject to weight restrictions and an added fee of $80-$200, just as if a passenger were shipping a bicycle or surfboard.

Pet shippers recommend paying more to send a pet as cargo so it can be tracked, but that can be tricky, too. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines will take pet reservations in cargo only three days before departure because of concern about extreme weather conditions. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and Delta Air Lines take animal cargo bookings no earlier than seven days before departure. And most airlines won't guarantee that a pet flown as cargo will be on the same flight as the owner.

"Pets are a headache for most airlines to deal with," says Walter Stolinas, president of Cosmopolitan Canine Carriers, a Darien, Conn., pet-shipping firm that has shifted most of its business to Continental.

Pamela Whiting scoured animal policies on airline Web sites for transporting her two dogs -- Cesar, a 106-pound golden retriever, and Andre an 89-pound black lab -- as she moved to Los Angeles from Houston. She decided on Continental only after careful investigation. "I made sure there was room on the flight for the kennels before I bought my ticket," she said.

On that hot day at Bush Intercontinental Airport, workers at Continental's "QuickPak" shipping desk filled the dogs' bowls with ice inside their kennels. Reassured, Ms. Whiting stepped outside for a smoke before takeoff. "I've heard stories that really scared me in the past," she said. "The dogs are my babies. They're a big part of my life."

In Los Angeles, Ms. Whiting wasn't as wowed when she retrieved the dogs at a cargo warehouse near the airport, where they were ceremoniously delivered to her on a forklift. But, she said, "they were fine."

According to the Transportation Department, Continental hasn't had a pet complaint since 2001. The airline says it hasn't had a fatality in the past two years.

There are some pets Continental won't ship, such as pit bull dogs older than six months or larger than 20 pounds. The airline also takes short-nosed dogs such as pugs only if the temperature is below 85 degrees because they have more difficulty expelling heat.

Continental's pet-reservation records also are linked to passenger records to ensure both travel on the same flight, and both are rerouted the same way in event of cancellations or changes.

At hub airports like Houston and Newark, Continental has designated runners like Mr. Bramwell, a baggage handler who loves animals, to drive vans outfitted with darkly tinted windows and heavy-duty air conditioners in the rear. In an eight-hour shift, Mr. Bramwell says he can drive 30 miles, just racing gate to gate around the airport.

With each bank of flights, he receives a printout of incoming animals and the connections they need to make. He'll follow a plane as it taxis in, so he can get a dog just as a cargo bay opens. The dog gets fresh water and a couple of coos from Mr. Bramwell, then rides in the back of the van until its next flight is ready to go.

Write to Scott McCartney at [email protected]1


Side insert
ANIMALS WITH ALTITUDE

Prices for animals sent from Newark Liberty International Airport to Los Angeles on Continental's QuickPak service.

Prices are based on an animal's total weight and kennel combined.
Description - Cost

Two-pound bird in a five-pound crate $99.00
30-pound crate of birds $129.00
Three-pound kitten in a five-pound kennel $99.00
One-pound hedgehog in a five-pound kennel $99.00
100-pound dog in 30-pound kennel $329.00

Gigiola

Thanks Katina ... this looks like a hit!

Now to find out where Continental fly to and from !!

doctor scrumpy

Sure did. I went form Heathrow to Dulles ( DC) with British Airways. They charged me 210 pounds to fly. 120 of which was the extra luggage rate, and the rest was the US handling fee. ( Currently $ 150 ).

You book the animal in an hour or so before the flight. You need to go to a vets a few days ( max a week) before you fly & get a fitness to travel certificate. Rabies shots are NOT required, but you will need to get the animal to a vet when u arrive in the US for rabies shots & heart-worm pills.

You need a box that has a metal grill on the front, and has slots so he can breathe on the other 3 sides. Enough room so the dog can turn around or stand up in.

A water bowl is required, and I would recommend you do not feed the dog after teatime the day before you fly. I used a favourite pillow of his in the box. Not only did it contain his scent & mine too, it also would absorb any urine the dog passed. The reason you don't feed them is that you don't need the animal being sick or defecating in the box.

The check in is so easy. They check the box for any contraband being smuggled in, then you hand the box & animal to a member of the BA crew, they take it through to the plane. A member of the security team came up to me on the flight and assured me that the dog was safely on board, and off we went.

On arrival in the US I was sent to inmmigration with all the relevant paperwork, but as Laddie was barking so loud, they seemed to speed me through there lol.

I had to go through customs & then on to Agriculture. They examined the fitness to travel certificate & as expected took the rawhide bone I had left in hix box to try and quieten him.

After that it was outside, onto the leash and he christened Dulles airport with a swiftly cocked-leg.

I would ALWAYS suggest you use BA, other companies that offer to fly the animal to the US charge upto 700 quid. The BA crew were excellent all the way through, and sought to calm the nerves of both animal & owner.

Gigiola

Thanks doc,

Duly saved to "Daisy" file![

doctor scrumpy

You're more than welcome.